


the missing piece

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, F/M, Male-Female Friendship, Soulmates, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 01:55:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14345517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: Written for #cousycomfort. A scene from 05x17 - Daisy finds her missing piece.





	the missing piece

She is only half.

Sometimes it feels like half is too much. Or not enough.

There are days when she feels like it is dragging her backwards, always being something in between.

She is nine, and that “poor child”, because it’s so obvious to them she doesn’t really fit with her foster family.

She is seventeen, and she makes up a name, to tell herself that she's still whole, even as she searches.

She is an Inhuman freak, hunted by the media, governments, aliens, xenophobes, Nazis, fascists - did she leave anyone out?

The ones who say they respects human rights have laws put into place that make sure she knows that she, and everyone like her, is even less than a half.

Even on her own team, she's held down and experimented on, like she is half a weapon instead of half a person.

If it can happen to her, it means it will happen to other people, too. She's always known that.

Why can't other people see it?

"He stays locked up."  
"But, _sir_ -"  
"I’m not in charge, Daisy is. But if I was, you’d get the same answer."  
"He needs help!"  
"Okay, let’s get him help. But until we’re in a position to do that, he’s not going anywhere."  
"He wants to help us!"  
"He’s helped enough already. What were you thinking, letting him out? That he won’t do it again?"  
"He _listens_ to me."  
"Do you- Did he listen to you when he was experimenting on Daisy?!"  
"..."  
"If you really want to help him, you'll help us stop this. Make him understand that what he did to her was-"

Simmons leaves the ready room before he can finish, passing by her just outside the door.

 _Almost_ stopping in surprise. An _almost_ expression of remorse, but then she keeps on, lowering her head as she walks by, wearing the same look of frustration she had seen before.

Coulson is staring at her in silence now, from inside of the room, his eyes widening at the realization she heard most of it.

But she's leading now, and they don't have time for this.

They never really had time on their side, but now it's pressing in on them. It feels different. Too painful to stop and examine.

"I know it's not my place to-" he starts to apologize.

She shakes her head at him, and brings the tablet with the data Talbot provided her against her chest.

"I'm sorry, Daisy," he goes on, following after her towards the monitoring station. "For leaving you with all of this."

"You didn't leave me," she says, setting down the tablet and looking at the data cross referenced on the monitor. "HYDRA kidnapped you. Besides, _the gang was all here_."

She can feel the words hit him, and she knows he'll see right through it, her trying to act like it can't touch her now.

"I mean...alone," he goes on, stopping to stand beside her. She can practically hear the guilt dripping from his voice.

"I handled it," she replies. "In your absence. And now that you're back-"

"That's not what I mean," he tells her, lowering his voice. "I know you can handle it. You shouldn't have to."

She's not sure she can handle his kindness right now. Not when she hasn't found a way to stop this all from happening.

And in the back of her mind, always the question: Why does it keep happening?

If it's just her, and they are all being punished by her design. That's what Lincoln told her, wasn't it? That being Inhuman was a curse.

"I think I understand now, why you spent so much time alone," she tells him, staring at the screen without actually seeing it.

"No. Daisy, I made a mistake."

She looks up at him, puzzled at the firmness of his voice, but his eyes are as gentle as they have ever been. It makes her hold her breath.

In all of her desperation to find him, she knew deep down that it wasn't about him being in charge again.

It was about _this_.

"I thought I was being careful," he explains. "Trying to not blur the lines. Hoping for something that seemed real, and safe."

Her chest tightens with fear, that things will be final now. She got him back, only to lose this.

The one thing that she's been holding on to.

"I should never have kept that distance. I should’ve told you."

"Told me what?" she asks warily, letting out her drawn breath slowly. She doesn't think that she can handle another dark secret.

How much I-,” he stops again, and his voice is shaking, like he’s afraid. "That I love you."

She blinks a few times, just to make sure that this is real, and he keeps going, trying to fill in her silence.

"I know it isn't the right time, but I didn't want to keep making the same mistake, and I-"

He falls back a step as she wraps her arms around his middle, hugging him against her, and he gets very still. And quiet.

But he's holding onto her tightly, too, like he doesn't want to let her go.

It makes her feel less like a half.

Instead, there was a piece to her story that was missing.

And it has a name.


End file.
